


Flower Petals and Inked Up Skin

by Larry_Klaine_Stylinson



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Cute, Flower Child Harry, Flowerchild!Harry, Fluff, M/M, Punk Louis, Punk!Louis, Snogging
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-03
Updated: 2013-05-03
Packaged: 2017-12-10 06:36:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/782941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Larry_Klaine_Stylinson/pseuds/Larry_Klaine_Stylinson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry is an innocent, bright eyed boy with flowers in his hair, and Louis is a tattooed punk covered in piercings who has built walls around himself for protection, and definitely should not be as interested in the curly haired boy as he is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flower Petals and Inked Up Skin

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written as a prompt fill on Tumblr.
> 
> Okay, y'all, I cannot even express how freaking stoked I was to write this. Holy hell, I'm so excited to share this with you all.

When Harry was younger, he used to like to make daisy chains. He'd give one to his mum and one to Gemma, and they'd wear them as necklaces. He always made one for himself as well, but he wore his as a little crown upon his head, and he told them he was the daisy king. They'd laugh, and he'd smile, and that was really his favorite thing to do in the Spring when he was younger.

As he got older, making daisy chains became something that wasn't exactly 'cool', and so he'd stopped when he was about ten. Everyone had told him he looked silly, and he didn't want to look silly.

He was sixteen now, though, and he still had a fascination with daisy chains, and flower crowns of all sorts really. When he was alone, he'd pick as many colorful flowers as he could and take them home and wear them around the house, and his mother would smile at him, probably remembering his childhood.

He ended up deciding one day that he didn't care what anyone thought, and he began wearing his flower crowns to school. His mum tutted at him when he would come home and the flowers were all wilted and the petals dropped all over the sofa and her freshly swept floors, and he'd sigh and pick them up.

She'd bought him fake flowers after that, to wear around the house. He didn't like them as much, though, which was why he still wore the real flowers to school. The fake ones weren't light and floaty like real flowers were. The petals weren't silky and soft, and they didn't smell like sweetness and the earth.

That was one of the things he really liked about wearing the flowers atop his head. He felt connected to the earth. Connected to every being. He supposed that if he didn't have to go to school he would probably never wear shoes, and that would have sort of the same effect. But as it was, he was forced to wear shoes, and so his crown of flowers was his connection to the earth.

He never explained this to anyone, sort of afraid that someone might tell him to keep his hippie crap to himself. He didn't really consider himself a hippie personally, but he could see why someone could mistake him for one. He supposed maybe he dressed a bit like a hippie sometimes, even discounting his flower crowns. He liked to wear billowy white shirts and light blue jeans. He quite fancied that style, and he'd gotten to a point in his life where he was going to dress how he wanted.

A few months ago his wardrobe had consisted mainly of obnoxiously colored shirts with weird logos on them that he didn't understand. But one day he'd just sort of thrown all of those out and started wearing what he wanted, and no one had commented on it yet, so he figured no one really had a problem with it.

Harry was quite content with himself now, embracing the person that he'd always wanted to be, and letting himself, at the risk of sounding like a very cliche metaphor in this situation, bloom.

He was happier these days, dressing in his flowing white shirts with rings of flowers on top of his head and a genuine grin on his face. His mum seemed to be proud of him for letting himself be who he really was, and he was glad to see her smiling at him so brightly all the time. His mum really was like his best friend.

He tied tiny knots in the little stems of some purple flowers he'd found outside early that morning and finished the crown quickly. He was pretty certain he could tie flowers together in his sleep at this point, he'd been doing it for so long. It was practically second nature to him now.

He gave his hair a bit of a shake and then popped the crown on his head, smiling at his reflection in the mirror before skipping down the stairs to head to school.

000

Louis had always been a bit of an outcast, even when he was little. He never liked to play the same games as the other children or watch the same shows. The other kids watched shows with singing puppets and strange people dancing around, and they thought it was the greatest thing. Louis himself had liked to watch shows about Russian Tsars. They were often violent and a bit frightening, but they were educational, and Louis liked them.

The other children were sometimes afraid of him, because he'd tell them about things he'd learned from the shows, and often the tales involved violent murders, which he found to be cool. It wasn't like he, at seven years old, was going to go around killing people. He just thought that learning about these things was fascinating. But the other children didn't seem to agree.

As he got older, the kids began to shun him more and more. He'd be the last picked for the football teams in gym class, and the one who had to have a partner picked for him for assignments, because no one would choose him.

By the time he was thirteen, he'd started wearing eyeliner. No one really liked him anyway, so he figured he had no reason to dress to please them, and the first change he'd made was to start wearing eyeliner.

Slowly his wardrobe had changed from less of the bright reds and blues he used to wear to darker colors. Black and navy blue. Blood red and royal purple. He wore studded, black leather chokers around his neck, and big, heavy, black steel toed boots.

His mother had been wary of these changes at first, trying to make sure he really wanted to look that way, and that it wasn't just some early teenage crisis.

He had assured her that this was the way he wanted to look, and he didn't care what the other kids thought, and she had nodded and given him a kiss on the top of the head.

After that, it became even harder for him to make friends. Not just because of his appearance, but because he had put up barriers. Built walls around himself to keep from being hurt. Children and teenagers were far too judgmental, and if he wanted to stay sane he decided that what he had to do was block everyone out. He didn't speak unless he had to, and he became a bit bitter, and he may have snapped at people sometimes.

And it wasn't that he was trying to be mean, but there was a small part of his brain, the very back of his mind, that wanted to scare everyone away. Because if he scared everyone away, then no one could hurt him.

When he was fourteen, he'd started painting his nails black, and he couldn't really remember a time that they hadn't been since he'd started.

When he was sixteen, he convinced his mum to let him get his first piercing. It was a simple ring through his bottom lip, and it had hurt like a bitch, but it was so worth it. He'd spent hours and hours looking in the mirror for the first few days after getting it done, making different facial expressions and watching as the ring moved along with his lip. He ran his tongue over it, loving the metallic taste, and he grinned.

In the two years, from then to now, he had managed to build up quite a collection of tattoos and piercings on his body.

He'd gotten an eyebrow piercing, a tongue piercing, and a neck piercing. His mother sometimes cringed at all of the 'metal junking up his face', as she put it. But he knew she still loved him, and she didn't treat him any differently, no matter how much she may have disagreed with his personal style.

He had tattoos all up his left arm, and a few on his right. He had quotes from books and movies, and sayings he'd come up with himself. He had a few skulls, a small tiger head, a snake that ran from his right wrist all the way up his inner arm to his elbow, its tongue sticking out delicately. He had various symbols and designs.

His sisters liked to run their fingers over his tattoos, as if they could feel them, when really they felt no different from the rest of his skin. Daisy and Phoebe seemed to have a thing for the tiger head on his left shoulder, although they called it the 'kitty', Fizz had always been a fan of the skulls. A girl after his own heart, she was. And Lottie liked his more intellectual ones. His quotes from Poe and Shakespeare and the one he had from Pride and Prejudice that he would never admit was a quote from Pride and Prejudice to anyone who asked, because honestly, that was embarrassing.

His family had been the only people he could really rely on, up until the beginning of the school year. There had been two new transfer students this year, a brother and sister, and they dressed similarly to Louis and had similar interests, and he'd made friends with them rather easily. They got on well, and the rest of the people in the school were quite afraid of them, especially when they all walked down the halls together.

Louis liked it this way. He was able to not be completely alone, and keep everyone he didn't like at bay at the same time.

It was perfect really.

However, over the past few weeks he'd been taking a particular notice to someone. He was a tall boy, though he was a couple of years younger than Louis, if he wasn't mistaken. In the past, Louis hadn't paid any attention to him. He was boring. Average. But recently he'd started coming to school in billowy white shirts that reminded Louis of princes from way back in the medieval times, with crowns made of flowers upon his head, and Louis couldn't help but glance at him whenever they crossed paths.

He always looked so cheery and care-free, and obnoxiously innocent. It was his innocence that enthralled Louis the most. He just wanted to grab him and ravish him, leaving his hair a mess of tangles and flower petals, wrinkling his puffy white shirt, and leaving him breathless.

But this curly haired boy was the exact opposite of everything Louis stood for. Always smiling and always wearing soft colors, the lines of his face rounded with something that Louis could only call sweetness. He was sweet. He seemed small despite his height. Louis knew that he had to stay away. Because if he began mingling with this boy, people wouldn't fear him anymore. If he began mingling with this innocent boy, he'd become sweet by association.

And Louis wasn't sweet. He was sour. Sour and bitter, and better on his own.

He looked in the mirror, sliding his eyeliner pencil along his bottom lashes a few times, getting the makeup on nice and thick, examining himself with a bit of a smirk, admiring one of his favorite tattoos, the words "I am what I am" across his chest, peeking out from underneath his tank top, and then pounding down the stairs and off to school.

000

Harry had stayed back after Maths class to ask his teacher a few questions, and now he was running very very late for English. He sprinted down the hall, tossing his Maths textbook into his locker and pulling out the one for English. He slammed his locker shut and took off in the direction of his next class.

He was halfway there when he felt himself being pushed up against the wall, and he dropped his book. At first he was afraid. He thought he was going to be punched or yelled at, and he didn't know why. He hadn't done anything to anyone.

But before he could register what was happening, there was a mouth covering his, and he breathed in sharply through his nose in shock. He shoved the other person off of him, getting a good look at his face. The boy was older than him, two years ahead of him in school, but he knew of him. Louis Tomlinson was his name, and everyone at the school was afraid of him.

Harry took in his expression, his eyes were dark, looking at Harry's lips, and he had little bits of metal sticking out of various areas in his face. Harry wasn't normally one for piercings and makeup, even on girls. His sister sometimes wore quite a lot of eyeliner, and he always told her she was so much lovelier without. He was just a simple guy, really. His flowers on top of his head were all that he needed.

But on Louis...On Louis it worked somehow. He didn't look as scary to Harry as everyone had made him out to be. He looked as if he was in control, and like he could probably be dangerous if he wanted to, but he didn't look like he'd choose to be dangerous.

Harry knew he should shove him off fully. That he needed to get to class, and that kissing someone he didn't know was not something he should be doing. He'd never even kissed anyone he did know. But here Louis was, and he wanted to kiss him, and his hands were gripping Harry's shoulders tightly, and Harry dropped his hands from Louis' chest, allowing him to lean in again.

Louis dived forward, attaching his lips to Harry's. Harry felt the cool metal of Louis' lip ring as it moved against Harry's own soft lips. Their lips moved together for a while, and Harry hoped he wasn't too bad at this, because Louis was definitely very very good. And then the kiss deepened, and Harry was pretty sure this could be considered a snog.

Louis nipped at his bottom lip, and Harry let out an embarrassing little whine. Harry brought his arms up, wrapping them around Louis' shoulders and playing with the hair at the base of his neck. His fingers brushed over two metal studs, and Harry realized with a small gasp that the older boy's neck was pierced. It was strange, feeling metal in the back of someone else's neck. He wasn't sure how exactly a piercing there would work, but it felt nice. He ran his fingers over them gently, and Louis let out a small groan into his mouth.

Harry gently ran his tongue over the ring in Louis' lip, tasting the metal, and he could feel Louis smiling against his mouth. He wasn't sure exactly what he was doing, but he was pretty sure he was at least doing something right.

Louis' hands moved from his shoulders, trailing down his chest, and stopping at his hips, squeezing them tightly and pushing him back further against the wall, leaning into his body as he nipped at Harry's bottom lip, causing him to gasp. When he gasped, Louis took the opportunity to thrust his tongue into Harry's mouth, and Harry breathed deeply through his nose, feeling dizzy and lightheaded.

Louis ran his tongue around in Harry's mouth, gently feeling all of the contours and tickling the roof of his mouth, causing Harry to shiver harshly, taking a fistful of Louis' hair and tugging it by accident, though Louis seemed to like it as he let out a loud groan.

He took his hands and ran them slowly up underneath Harry's billowing shirt, and Harry felt as his fingers slowly moved across the lines of each rib, and his thumb ghosted over Harry's belly button, tickling him and causing him to let out a small giggle into Louis' mouth, which would have been embarrassing if he had been able to feel anything but Louis right now. He continued running his hands over Harry's heated flesh, his palms rubbing harshly over Harry's nipples, causing him to gasp, and Louis flicked his tongue along the backs of Harry's teeth before retracting it.

He dropped repeated little open mouthed kisses to Harry's lips as he took his nipples between his fingers, pinching them lightly. He then pulled back, looking Harry deeply in the eyes, dropped one last final kiss to his jaw, and then turned and began to walk away.

"See you around, Curly!"

"It's Harry!" Harry called back in a daze.

"Whatever."

Harry stood there for a moment, catching his breath. He bent down to pick up his book, and realized that the motion was slightly uncomfortable, due to the fact that he was half hard in his trousers.

He groaned, slamming his head against the wall in frustration. He took a moment, breathing deeply, hoping his erection would disappear, and eventually it did, and he made it to class just in time to get glared at by the teacher, hear the very end of the lesson, and then leave again as the bell rang.

He trudged out of class, internally grumbling to himself, angry that he'd let that happen.

And yet, there was a part of him, a rather large part, honestly, that really wanted to see Louis again. It didn't make sense to him. Louis was scary. He was bad. Everyone said so. Harry had never done anything bad in his life. He'd never think of tainting his skin with ink or putting holes in his face for vanity's sake. But there was something about Louis.

Something about Louis that drew him in.

000

Louis hadn't meant to do it.

He really and truly had not intended to push Harry up against a wall and snog the living daylights out of him. But Louis had been running late for class, as had become normal for him. He'd been making his way down the hall, and there he was. The boy he'd been subtly staring at for weeks now. He was alone. They were alone. And his lips were so plump and pink, like two little rose petals. Maybe that was why he wore the flowers in his hair. To match his lips.

He'd just looked so sweet and innocent with his eyes downcast and his purple flowers lining his head, his curly hair unruly and perfect all at once, and Louis hadn't been able to stop himself.

He had thought, for a brief moment, that the boy was going to push him off. Tell him he was scared of him, or that he didn't want to associate with someone like him in the slightest. But he hadn't. He'd hesitated for a moment, but then he'd let Louis in. He'd let him in, and he'd kissed him back, and it was sort of the most amazing thing Louis had ever experienced in his life.

It was obvious that Harry was a bit inexperienced, that Louis had been right about him being as innocent as he looked, and that just made Louis want to kiss him harder. Touch him a bit more than maybe he would have otherwise, considering they were in the school hallway.

His lips had connected with Harry's and he'd just lost it. He'd lost all restraint.

He wished Harry would just disappear, with his stupid innocent expression, his eyes wide with wonder. His awful little flower crowns that Louis wanted to wreck as he tangled his fingers in Harry's brilliant curls. His stupid pink lips that were just begging to be nibbled on.

God, he just wished Harry would fucking disappear.

Except that wasn't actually what he wanted at all.

What he really wanted was to see him again.

And that frightened him.

000

It had been two whole weeks since Harry had been attack-snogged by the older boy with far too many tattoos and bits of metal poking out of his face.

It had been two whole weeks, and still it was all he could think about.

He just wanted to see Louis again, if only to ask what it had all been about. Why Louis had snogged him so abruptly. Harry hadn't even known that Louis knew of his existence. What made him so worthy of being snogged by the older lad? Why him? Had it just been because he was the only other person running late to class and Louis was bored?

He just needed answers.

As the final bell of the day rang, he grabbed his book off his desk and headed to his locker, grabbing all of his books and shoving them in his rucksack for the weekend, tossing his bag over his shoulder and heading out of the school.

As he walked past the bleachers on his way to the car park, he felt two hands on the strap of his rucksack that certainly did not belong to him, and then he was being pulled underneath the bleachers and out of view.

He turned to face his semi-abductor, and came face to face with none other than the boy he'd been dying to see.

"Louis?"

"Harry, right?"

Harry nodded.

Suddenly, he was shoved up against the wall, and Louis' lips were covering his again. He sighed into the kiss, the feeling familiar, although it had only happened once before. It was almost as if he had been missing this his whole life, and that it was meant to be this way. Louis' lips on his.

He bit down on Louis' lip gently and ran his teeth over the metal ring in his lip, and Louis groaned, pushing his mouth harder onto Harry's, their teeth clacking together.

Harry couldn't breathe, and he pulled his mouth away a bit. Louis took this opportunity to drop his head, attaching his lips to Harry's neck and sucking lightly.

"Louis." Harry gasped, trying to get his attention.

Louis simply hummed, and continued to suck on Harry's flesh.

"Louis." Harry said, grabbing his hair and tugging a bit.

Louis moaned softly, but brought his head up, and it was only then that Harry realized that Louis was a few inches shorter than him. Louis had been so in control both times they had met that Harry hadn't even considered the fact that he might be shorter than him.

"Why are you doing this?" Harry asked.

"It's called a love bite." Louis said.

"No." Harry shook his head. "I know that."

"Then shut up and just let me do it."

"No, Louis." Harry said, grabbing Louis by the shoulders and keeping him at arm's length. "I meant why are you doing this at all? Why did you shove me up against the wall in the hallway? Why did you drag me under here? Why me?"

"Why not you?" Louis asked, smiling a bit.

"Louis, I don't..." Harry took a deep heaving breath, letting it out with a sigh. "I don't want to just snog someone, you know? I don't want to be one of those people. I'm not one of those people."

Louis rolled his eyes, "I knew there was a downside to your whole innocent vibe you had going on."

Harry raised an eyebrow, biting his lip before continuing, "I like kissing you, though. I want to keep...kissing you. But I-"

"Harry, I can't be your boyfriend." Louis cut him off. "I know that's what you're trying to ask, and I can't do it. Do you have any clue how hard I've worked for the reputation that I have? I don't need you coming along and branding me with your sweet innocence. No one's going to respect me if I get caught holding hands with the pretty little flower boy, you know?"

Harry bit his lip again, nodding.

000

Louis saw tears collecting in Harry's eyes as he made his grand defiant speech.

He couldn't deny the fact that he wanted to be with Harry. Snogging him was unlike anything else he'd ever experienced, and he wanted to be able to keep doing it forever.

He also didn't like how sad Harry looked right now. His big, green eyes filled with tears, and the light blue flowers on top of his head wilted from a long day at school. He wanted to fix him. Wanted to wipe the tears from his eyes and make him smile.

And in that moment, he made a choice that he was sure he was going to regret.

"But you know what, Harry?"

"What?" Harry asked, his voice thick with emotion.

"If we keep it a secret..." He trailed off, knowing Harry would understand.

"You really want to?" Harry asked.

Louis nodded, keeping his train of easily regrettable decisions going and letting his true feelings out a bit, "I quite like you, Harry." He admitted. "Ever since you started wearing those stupid flower crowns on your head I thought you were kind of nice to look at. You have a certain innocence about you that part of me wants to embrace." He decided to leave out the fact that part of him wanted to completely destroy it. That could be left for another day. "You're the complete opposite of what I should be interested in, and I think that's why I'm so interested, you know?"

Harry nodded, biting his lip, "I feel the same way about you." He told him. "I hate tattoos and piercings. I hate things that aren't just natural, you know? That's why I like my flower crowns. I used to make my mum and sister necklaces, and we-" Harry cut himself off then, blushing a bit, and Louis wondered if he felt as silly opening up to Louis as Louis did opening up to Harry. "The point is that I really shouldn't fancy you at all." Harry mumbled. "But I do."

Louis grinned and stepped forward, giving Harry an uncharacteristically gentle kiss, and then stepping back and looking into his bright green eyes. Harry smiled brightly at him, and connected their lips once more.

Louis brought his hands up, tangling them in Harry's curls like he'd been dying to do. He was careful at first, worried that maybe Harry would get angry with him for upsetting the carefully placed crown of flowers that sat upon his head. But when Harry ran his tongue experimentally along Louis' bottom lip, and Louis opened his mouth, allowing Harry's tongue inside, Louis lost all his restraint.

He ran his hands through Harry's curls, no doubt turning them into a tangled mess. He felt the flower petals and stems getting stuck between his fingers, and he groaned into Harry's mouth. He had imagined this a thousand times, but he had never thought that it would be this much of a turn on. The flower petals stuck to his hands, as he massaged Harry's scalp, and Harry mewled happily, his tongue tracing the backs of Louis' teeth.

Louis pulled back, breathless, "Everyone'll be gone by now. Want to follow me back to my house?"

Harry nodded.

"My mum's out taking my sisters to various after school activities, and dad's at work, so we should be all alone."

Harry nodded again, and Louis chuckled, grabbing his hand, not afraid to do so since the car park would be clear of any of their peers.

They walked together, hand in hand, until they split up, going to their separate cars. Louis climbed into his and drove slowly, making sure he could always see Harry behind him, not wanting him to get lost.

When they finally arrived in front of Louis' house, they both got out of their cars.

Harry came up and stood next to him, "I've just taken a look at myself in my car mirror and you've absolutely wrecked my flowers." Harry said, sounding genuinely upset.

"You're cute."

"I am?" Harry asked, his nose twitching, almost like a rabbit, and Louis couldn't resist the urge to lean forward and kiss it.

"You are." Louis took his hand, not afraid of his neighbors seeing. They were mostly old people, and he could not care less what they thought of him. He really just cared about the kids at school. "Come on. Mum's got a garden out back. We'll make you a new crown."

"You don't think they're silly?" Harry asked as they walked around back and into his mum's large garden.

"Of course I think they're silly." Louis scoffed. "But you like them, right?"

"Yeah." Harry nodded.

"Then I want you to wear them." He told him. "Do you think people like the way I dress?"

Harry was silent, biting his lip.

"It's alright to be honest, Harry. You don't even like how I dress. No one does. But I don't care about that, you know? So what, I don't fit in. Doesn't matter, because at least I'm staying true to myself, yeah?"

"Yeah." Harry nodded.

"So just because you're dating me doesn't mean I expect you to start putting dark makeup around your eyes and listening to screaming punk metal bands. That would defeat the whole purpose of my liking you. I like you because you're different. You and I aren't the same, and neither of us are really the same as anyone around us. I think that's what drew me to you, you know? I thought you were innocent and cute, and you were also completely you. I saw you before you started dressing like a little kid would have in the '60s and let me tell you, you were boring as hell, Harry. Now you're interesting, you're happy, you're unique, and you're you. So yes, I absolutely think your flower crowns are silly. But I sure as hell am not going to suggest you stop wearing them."

Harry had stopped moving, just sort of gawking at Louis, his mouth dropped open a bit, and his grip on Louis' hand loosening, but not fully dropping. Louis watched him as he stared, an amused smirk making its way onto Louis' face.

"You're amazing." Harry whispered. "I didn't...I didn't expect you to be so smart. I'm not trying to be rude or anything, I swear." He rushed to add. "But you just didn't strike me as the type to be so...So...Intelligent, I guess? See, it sounds rude, but I don't mean it to be." Harry huffed at himself.

"So adorable." Louis mumbled. "So adorable you're actually sickening to me."

"Thank you?"

"You're welcome." Louis said, surprised at how easy it was to talk to Harry. It was as if they'd known each other their wholes lives, and Louis supposed that was a good thing really, since they'd rushed into their relationship. He was finding he didn't regret his decision at all. "But have you seen these tattoos?" He asked, pointing to all of his literature quotes. "You really didn't expect me to be smart?"

"You can't think I actually had time to read those." Harry said. "My blood wasn't all in my brain when you stepped away from me in the hall that afternoon." Harry said, an intense blush flushing his cheeks.

Louis chuckled, "You're blushing."

"Be quiet." Harry said, biting his lip and turning his face away, shoving his free hand into his pocket.

"Be quiet? Really? You're not even going to tell me to shut up?" Louis asked. "Are you actually five?"

"Stop it." Harry said, turning back to face him, his green eyes even wider than normal, his face looking almost like a cartoon.

"Such an innocent little hippie." Louis shook his head.

"No." Harry whined. "M'not a hippie."

"You sure look like one."

"Whatever." Harry mumbled, bumping shoulders with Louis.

Louis leaned over, kissing Harry on the cheek. He was shocked by his own gentle nature. He hadn't been this sweet with anyone but his mum and sisters in years. It was kind of nice, though, he had to admit.

"What kind of flowers do you want to use, love?" He asked, feeling himself blush at the term of endearment.

"Did you just-?"

"Hush." Louis said, although he was smiling. "Just tell me what kind of flowers you like."

He watched as Harry's eyes scanned the garden.

"I always used daisies when I was little." Harry breathed out, and Louis nodded.

"I've got a sister named Daisy, you know?" Louis told him as the two of them walked towards the little plot of daisies his mum had growing.

"That's lovely." Harry grinned.

Louis picked as many daisies as he figured his mum could do without, and then the two of them headed inside.

000

Harry really liked the softer side of Louis that had been coming out since they'd arrived at his house. He almost forgot about the piercings and dark eyeliner and the tattoos that splattered his skin. They weren't important in the grand scheme of things.

He followed Louis into the house, sitting next to him on a large sofa.

"Alright." Louis said. "Tell me how to do this."

"Oh, I can make it, Louis. It's alright."

"No, I want to. Tell me how."

"You just...You've got to carefully tie them all together." He said, taking a couple flowers from Louis' lap. "Watch closely." He tied the daisies together, and Louis watched, his tongue poking past his lips in concentration.

He then picked up a few flowers and began making them into a chain. Harry watched intently, and Louis seemed to be doing a decent job. He huffed and sighed as his fingers moved swiftly, tying them all together. Harry took a few flowers from Louis' lap and began making a small chain of his own.

He finished his long before Louis had finished the one he was working on, and he cleared his throat, looking up at Louis.

"Don't distract me, Harry." Louis said, sounding annoyed.

Harry stayed quiet after that, holding the small chain in his large hands as he waited for Louis to finish the one he was working on.

A few minutes later, Louis, looked up, "What did you want?"

"Hold out your hand." Harry said, and Louis did as he was told. Harry slipped the bracelet he'd crafted out of flowers onto Louis' wrist, and the older boy sighed deeply.

"This really does not go with my outfit, Harry." He told him.

Harry felt himself pouting against his will, "You don't have to keep it on forever." He told him.

"Alright." Louis sighed, turning a bit on the couch to face Harry.

Just then, they heard the front door open, and nearly half a dozen pairs of feet.

"Shit." Louis muttered. "I hadn't planned on telling them yet."

"It's alright." Harry said.

"You don't mind them knowing about us? Mum'll probably have you over for dinner every night for the rest of your life."

"I don't mind. I was going to tell my mum when I got home." Harry said, smiling.

"Of course you were. Fucking angel, you are."

Harry grinned, and Louis lifted the flower crown up, placing it gently on his head.

"I crown you, king of dimples."

Harry blushed, never really having been a fan of his dimples personally. But if Louis liked them, he supposed he could get used to them.

"Who's this?" Harry heard an unfamiliar voice and turned to face who he assumed was Louis' mum.

"Mum." Louis greeted, confirming Harry's suspicions. "This is Harry. We're um. We're dating."

"Oh, Louis!" The woman cooed. "Oh, I'm so happy for you! Girls, get in here. Your brother's got himself a boyfriend!"

Harry blushed as Louis' little sisters all filed in, looking him up and down.

"Bit of a hippie, isn't he?" The eldest asked.

"Lottie, be nice." Louis' mother snapped.

Louis chuckled, "Harry, this is Lottie, Fizz, Daisy and Phoebe. And, of course, my mum. I'm sure she'll ask you to call her Jay, so I might as well introduce her as such."

"Of course he can call me Jay, sweetheart."

"You're too sweet looking for Louis, I think." The second eldest -Fizz, wasn't it?- said. "He scares people, you know? My friends won't come over because they think he's going to eat them."

"I think he's nice." Harry said, a small smile making its way onto his face.

The littlest ones, who seemed to be twins, came rushing over to Harry and Louis then, one of them climbing onto Louis' lap, and one onto Harry's.

"Daisy, be nice. He might not want you on his lap." Jay scolded.

"No, no. It's fine." Harry said. He'd always been fond of children.

"I gots a shirt like this." Phoebe told him. "S'all puffy jus' like dis. It's my princess shirt. I wear it with my long pink skirt. Do you gots a skirt, too, Harry?"

Louis laughed loudly from next to him, and Harry liked the sound, even if he was embarrassed by what had caused it.

"No, I haven't got a skirt." He told her.

"She's right, though, Harry." Louis said. "It really does look just like a shirt of hers."

"Oh, shut it." Harry grumbled.

"Shut it? Getting snippy now, are you?" Louis asked, causing Jay to chuckle. Louis turned to face her saying, "He absolutely never says anything even slightly rude. It's humorous."

"Well, he'll have to spend more time around here." Jay said, and then turned her attention to Harry. "If you ever have a need to be rude, just take a lesson from my kids. I haven't a clue where they got it from."

"Hey!" Daisy shouted, tugging on Harry's curls a bit. "You've got daisies in your hair and my name is Daisy, didja know that?"

"Louis mentioned it, yeah." Harry smiled.

"I like ya. You're nice." She smiled, giving Harry a tight hug.

Harry stayed at Louis' house for an hour or so, and it went on pretty much like that. Lottie and Fizz were examining him, but not in a way that made him uncomfortable. They just wanted to check him out. Probably make sure he was good enough for Louis or something. Daisy and Phoebe took turns clinging to him, and he patted them on the back and gave them hugs. Jay fawned over him, and he and Louis both blushed.

Eventually, he figured he ought to get home to his mum.

Louis walked him to the door, "Sorry about that, Harry."

"What are you sorry for?"

"My family's attack on you." Louis chuckled.

"I didn't mind. Honest." Harry said. "They're all quite nice."

"Sorry about Fizz and Lottie, though. They're protective of me. I think they were just trying to get a feel for you. They liked you, though, I can tell."

"I'm glad."

"Mum adores you, if that wasn't obvious. She's probably just glad you aren't some forty year old man with his dick pierced and that she walked in on me putting a crown on your head and not me in a compromising position."

Harry could feel the heat in his face as he blushed.

"So easily flustered." Louis laughed, kissing Harry on the nose. "As much as mum tries not to let my appearance change what she thinks of me, I think there was a part of her that was always worried I was going to run off and join a cult somewhere. I think she was just glad to see me with someone as sweet looking as you, you know?"

Harry nodded, "I like your mum."

"You know, Harry." Louis told him. "When I first said we could date...I thought I was going to regret it. But now that we've gotten to know each other better, I don't regret it at all."

"I'm glad you don't." Harry grinned. "I think we're a better match than either of us originally thought."

"I think you're right." Louis said, kissing Harry softly on the lips. "I'll see you soon, yeah?"

"See you soon." Harry said, walking outside and letting out a tiny squeal of happiness as soon as he was out of earshot.

000

Louis and Harry had been together for three months now, and Louis felt awful for forcing Harry to keep it a secret.

It wasn't like they didn't see each other often. They spent nearly every day at his house, or at Harry's. He'd met Harry's family, and he loved them just as much as Harry loved his. Harry's family had been wary about him at first. Harry's sister Gemma had given the younger boy a skeptical look, almost as if she were asking Harry if he'd lost his mind. But once they'd gotten to know him, they'd loved him just as much as he loved them.

Louis was slowly becoming more comfortable with himself, though. And as he went to answer the door, finding Harry's grinning, dimpled face on the other side, he was pretty sure he wouldn't want to hide their relationship for much longer.

Because as long as he had Harry by his side, he knew he could stand his ground against anyone.


End file.
